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Friday, May 9, 2014

island skies, island zen

Today: sky friday. and the last island day....

"every journey is an own person", i read this week. i am more than glad for this one, with all the moments it brought. today it's the last full day of the island time. tomorrow will be about leaving and arriving back home. so as the end of the island time isapproaching, i am revisiting the pages of the island diary from a previous journey, which carried the same mood.

Island Zen, May 2012
"i would like to take a piece of the island with me," i said on the bay walk. but how to do this? that's the question. carrying shells back home probably is the physical symbol for trying to hold on to the island rhythem and structure.

and like picking up shells, i am taking photos , to carry home.

today i want to go for a longer drive through the island mountains today. but first, this, a reflection on the here and the coming days and weeks:

what i wish for: that the island time lingers, that i can take some of the island simplicity and energy with me into the home days. it was so good to have the island time, and the stay there this year was one of the most beautiful of all so far, for a combination of reasons: we were lucky with the weather, usually you get one rainy day in each week, but while we were there, in the northern half, it was all good – windy on some days, and one afternoon brought a short rain, but no all-rainy-days.

and for the first time, we had a rent car from start to end, we picked it up at the airport, and having the car made it easy to go and visit places - small places, near places, far places. maybe it also was the mood from the Alb drives that already brought a road-trip-continued feeling. the time there, it felt like a warm island of togetherness and exploring, reading and enjoying.

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so which steps to take?

in addition to the question, my horoscope noted, or rather warned: "A frantic pace - valid for the next days: The tempo of events in your environment is likely to be too fast, and it will be difficult to avoid getting caught up in it. Nevertheless you should try sometimes to disconnect yourself from this frantic pace, because it may get to the point that you are continually distracted and unable to think properly."

which brought me back to a note and a link from last month. April 5th, this was, exactly a month ago, at home, the same question:

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Thursday 5th of April zen habits/hacks

the multitude of options all around, and on the other hand, the longing for simplicity – that's what i also thought of in the last days. i revisited the “zen habits” blog, and arrived here, at a list of suggestions how to simplify:zen habits/hacks.the one at #3 hooked me:
Create a short-list. This is for the big-picture simplifying. If you’re having a hard time getting your life to something truly simple, create a short list of things you love doing most. This should be 4-5 things. For me, that’s writing, reading, running and spending time with my family. Your short list will be different. Then, try to eliminate everything in your life that’s not on the short list, to make room for the things you love.
Go media free. If your life is filled with information overload, and you find little time to do the things you love to do, consider eliminating media from your life, at least temporarily. This includes cable TV, DVDs, newspapers and magazines, Internet news and the like.

One in, two out. When you bring something into your house, you have to get rid of two things. The normal rule is one in, one out, but somehow that never seems to work — things still accumulate. Instead, get rid of two things and things will stay simple.

Limit yourself to 3 tasks. If your to-do list is long and overwhelming, pick three tasks you want to do today — important tasks that aren’t just urgent but actually have a long-lasting impact on your life. Focus on getting these three tasks done before anything else. If you finish early, you can either call it a day or get some bonus tasks done.

Eight Hours or Less..
..and this one, #17, about working, and about keeping track of time, and being aware of the time, the hours spent, the re-balancing of the everyday. So here's an adjusted version of it:Limit yourself to work 8 hours or less, and try to have a half day off. You might even set it to 6 hours if you can manage that.. But how can you work less if you currently are overloaded with work as it is? It's funny, but you can somehow make it work.

It's a well-known law that our work expands to fit the time we give it … and the flip side of that is if you shrink the time, you will shrink the work to fit the time. If you only have four days in a work week, you will pick the most important tasks. You will get the work done that needs to be done, and you'll naturally eliminate the rest. You'll set a schedule that works. You'll delegate and outsource and automate and eliminate. And you'll have an extra half-day off. Try it and see — I bet you can manage it.